My One Chance
by EmpoleonXD
Summary: An ex-assassin, abandoned and forced to kill out of necessity. A scientist, preforming experiments to fulfill a long forgotten purpose. A deserter, giving up a home to find lost family. A Nether wanderer, trying to find purpose in a confusing reality. A tyrant, tirelessly gathering knowledge and searching for a lost friend. One chance to end it all.
1. Ex-assassin

"Now we will show this scum what happens when you betray this city." A tall man in a brown cape stood on top of a platform raised above the townspeople who had gathered around them. They gave a rallying cheer for the man. Idiots...none of them realized they were cheering for the death of their own friends. Behind the man there were several people with bags over their heads about to be hanged. I crept closer to get a better look, trying to blend in with the night sky. There were five figures about to be hanged illuminated by torchlight. I was standing on a tower across from the execution sight. Now all I had to do was shoot a rope tied to a bolt and fire it to the top of the wall across from me. Walk across, shoot the man in charge, then travel across the rest of the rope and jump off the side of the wall and disappear into the night, leaving everyone none the wiser. The torches could barely illuminate the area I was going to cross, I would be able to blend in with the darkness of the night sky.

I shot the arrow above the heads of the townspeople and into the wall across from me, behind the execution site. It was about fifty blocks or so away, but the darkness made the shot difficult to land. Still, I had gotten used to seeing in the dark and after I shot the bolt I tied the rope to a post nearby. As I had expected, no one so much as blinked. Now for the next step. I started walking across the rope, balancing was tricky while carrying my crossbow, but I managed to do it. I walked cautiously across the rope, trying not to think about what would happen if I fell. A few moments later I was only a few blocks from the perfect position to shoot the man. I slipped off the side of the rope, holding the crossbow in one hand and clinging to the rope with the other. There was no way I would be able to focus on balancing myself while trying to shoot at the man. Besides, the shot was easy enough for me to make using only one hand. I aimed my weapon at the man's throat. I would only have one clear shot, I couldn't reload my crossbow with one hand.

Suddenly the wind picked up. I was already pushing myself to the limits of my strength as it was and the extra force pushed me beyond my capacity. My hand slipped and I fell off. The fall wouldn't kill me, unless I landed horribly wrong, which I didn't plan on doing. I managed to roll as I hit the ground, taking minimal damage. The real problem was that I was noticed. They didn't know who I was, but with the black hood it was obvious that I was not someone they wanted to have around. I was standing beside the platform the man was standing at. I aimed my weapon at him again, but guards immediately surrounded him. I cursed as I was forced to run, but where? I couldn't get through the crowd and there was a dead end towards the spot underneath where I had launched my rope.

Of course, the rope.

I turned and carefully shot a bolt at the post where I had tied the rope. I nailed the post and it burst into sticks and planks, The rope came loose and fell from the tower, the end landed somewhere in the crowd but that wasn't important. Now I would be able to use the rope to climb up the wall where I had originally planned to escape. The guards had already almost reached me, spears drawn. The all eyes were on me now. I reattached my crossbow to to a strap on my back and ran to the wall. I jumped on the wall and boosted myself a few blocks in the air and caught the rope as it was falling, and climbed it quickly, I was at the top of the wall in no time, only now were the guards at the bottom of the rope. The looked up at me helpless. They knew their heavy armour would weigh them down from getting up quickly enough and that I could easily cut the rope and watch them fall to their deaths.

I was surprised to see the man walking up to the bottom of the rope. He turned to the crowd "Unfortunately, despite our executions there are still those who would attempt to harm us. Those who would see us destroyed. I'm sure you're all familiar with the infamous assassin Dan."

Fear shot through me, how did he know who I was? The crowd began talking softly amongst themselves, all eyes on me. The man continued "Someday we will see this man hanged for his crimes. But until then, be watchful, for this may not be the last time he strikes this peaceful city."

I quickly grabbed my Crossbow and aimed it at the man, from this angle he was wide open, and no one could protect him. There was no way I was leaving without having slain him, not with the amount of money I was being offered. I shot right at his throat, the foolish guards only now realized what was happening and went to protect the man. But they were too late, the bolt struck the man's shoulder. Not a mortal wound, but enough to stall him long enough to-

Suddenly I fell back, I felt a sharp pain nearby, I looked to my shoulder and found a bolt sticking out of it. Right in the exact place I had struck the man.

"...wha...?!" I breathed, in shock of what happened. But before I could make sense of anything I stepped back and slipped off the wall. The last thing I can remember is falling.

I suddenly sat up breathing heavily. It was just a dream, I kept telling myself. It was all just a dream. Unfortunately it was anything but. Two years ago was the first time I was forced to kill someone. I never meant to do it, but I had no choice. In that moment it was either me or him. After that, it was all downhill. I was already infamous for thievery, after all it was the only way I could survive. But it wasn't enough, and once word got around that I had killed someone, people began offering me jobs. I began assassinating people in order to survive, after all, what had they ever done for me?

My dream was a flashback to my attempt to kill the false leader of Iter. It had quite a big payoff and honestly was one of the few good things I could do with my skills. However, it went horribly wrong, I escaped with my life and was branded a traitor as well as a killer. In the end it made absolutely no difference, but for some reason that failure always haunted me. It wasn't my first, and certainly wouldn't be my last, but for some reason I just couldn't quite get it out from the back of my mind.

I stood up from my bed and looked outside, the sun was starting to rise over the horizon, time to start a new day. I walked over to the chest, above were several wanted posters, WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: DAN. I didn't have a last name, my parents left me in the city of Iter when I was only a child. Who were they anyway? It didn't matter, they were most likely dead. Bedsides, by now they would probably only see me as a killer.  
Why had I tried so hard to kill the leader of Iter? I knew he was working for an organization that executed innocent people who he then claimed were a part of the organization he worked for. But, for what purpose? The townspeople would see me hanged in heartbeat, why bother saving them? But would the leader's death result in their salvation? No, the fools would have been put under the same ruse again and again, the organization planting more and more false leaders. That was nearly a year ago, I looked towards the entrance of the cave. From there I could see the ruins of Iter. I shook my head, it was over, there was nothing I could do.

I opened a nearby chest and took out my leather armour, then I slipped my cloak and hood over my armour and then secured my strap where I kept my Crossbow attached to my back. I took out my belt which had several throwing knives attached to it, strapped an iron sword to the right side of my belt and a special knife with a mini-cannon in it on my left side. Now I was fully armed.

I was only about to go hunting but I had learned to keep everything on me just in case. What could possibly happen? Who knows, but I had to keep myself fully prepared even with the slightest chance of danger. Once I was attacked out of nowhere by a bounty hunter. I wouldn't be standing here now if I had left myself only partially armed. I took a deep breath and ran towards the opening of the cave. I was half-blinded by the light from the sun but that didn't stop me. I kept running and I jumped off the cliff where my cave was at. A hundred block drop. I went into free fall, then about halfway down I pulled the string hanging from he front of my cloak. a hundred strings shot out of the back of the cloak, slowing my fall. I pulled the string again just before hitting the ground and landed safely. I honestly had no idea how the cloak worked, but the important thing was that it did. I stood up and looked around, no sign of life so far.

"Time to start gathering." I said to myself, as I began moving forward through the forest at the base of the cliff I had taken shelter in. There was no time to question how I had found myself in this situation, the only thing I could do was move forward.


	2. Ruins of Iter

I Walked across a large valley near the ruins of Iter. A large part of me didn't want to revisit the city, but I couldn't help but be curious. It didn't surprise me when I had heard about how the city had fallen. All Iter had for its final few years were lies fed to the city by leaders who wanted to bleed it dry for the sake of gaining power. But I couldn't help but be curious about how the city looked after being torn apart. As I approached the city I noticed there were large tower-like structures near the front gates. I looked away then suddenly froze as I noticed something.

The large structures were moving.

I immediately sprinted out of the valley and up to a large dirt mound at the edge of it and laid down flat. I looked at the base of the tower structures and saw that people were moving it towards Iter. _What's going on here...?_ I could only guess at it. I moved towards Iter to get a closer look at the town itself. The walls around the city that used to be solid stone now had gaping holes in them, along with vines growing on them. I looked into the city and found that most of the structures in town looked to be in the same state. But what surprised me was that there were people still living there. They looked to be struggling to survive but they seemed to be getting by. The large structures I saw earlier were most likely to be used to seize the town. I ran off into the forest nearby where I had originally intend to go. How had the people survived in that place? Why did the people outside intend to seize the city with such extreme force? I didn't intend to stay and find out.

Back before I was an assassin, I was just a normal kid living in Iter. Well, normal besides the fact that both my parents had abandoned me and everyone in the city hated me. Why did they despise me so much? Well, it was probably the thievery, but that only fanned the flames. They already hated me before I began stealing to survive. The only thing I had was a long rope, a knife with a mini-cannon, and my cape that allowed me to slow my descent. All items my Father had given me, or so I was told. I got away with stealing most of the time. A lot of people accused me of stealing but they never had enough evidence to convict me. I never gave them the chance to have a solid reason to kick me out of the town. Still, that didn't stop people from refusing to provide me with food so I had to rely on stealing even more.

Finally, one person caught me stealing and cornered me. But arrest and exile were not on this man's mind, he was out for blood. So I used my knife to kill him, he never saw the shot coming. But after that, I had to leave. Soon afterwards I was labeled a killer beyond being just a thief. I became infamous since that day. However, this infamy brought the attention of some shadowy people who needed to have a few big mouths silenced, and were willing to pay good prices to have the jobs done. So I did what I had to do, I took jobs in order to keep myself fed. I tried to stick with jobs that involved killing corrupt leaders and such, I almost felt a bit like some sort of hero. Although, to the world I was nothing more than a killer, and for the most part, they were right.

Which led me back to the failure of assassinating one of the false leaders of Iter. Perhaps the reason it haunted me so much was what happened moments before I fell off the wall. I shot the bolt, but it struck me as soon as I hit him. How was that even possible? I didn't have the slightest clue how it had happened. I tested everything in my head, did it bounce back and hit me? Had someone fired at me? Had my crossbow backfired another bolt back at me? No matter how I tried to rationalize it I just couldn't shake the feeling that some force, unknown to me, had been behind it. Still, thinking about it then never did me any good and thinking about it now was no different.

I continued walking through the forest, quietly so I didn't disturb the wildlife. I kept a close watch on the surrounding area, then I saw something move in the distance. I moved closer to get a better look and saw two pigs. I was hoping to find cows out in the wild, but pigs would be fine. Besides, the day had only begun, I could probably find some later. I took a deep breath and carefully aimed my crossbow at the pig. Then I fired, nailing one of the pigs right between its eyes. It squealed as it fell over, disintegrating into a small cloud of dust that quickly faded, leaving only two raw porkchops on the ground. The other pig ran away immediately, but I didn't pursue, I would more than likely scare off any other animals nearby then actually kill the pig now that it was running around.

I grabbed the meat and stuck it inside my pack. I started looking around for the next spot I should hunt from when I noticed something odd about the trees in the distance. I moved through the oak forest towards it and entered a clearing about fifty blocks wide. Across from me there was dense black forest. The trees and leaves were black, and no light seemed to break through the branches. Despite the fact that it was interesting it also appeared to serve as a good hiding place. I walked across the clearing and walked into the black forest. A part of me wanted to stay away from the forest for fear of what might be in there, but I wanted to know what kind of place it was. Besides, with the clothes I was wearing I blended in perfectly with the darkness.

I moved through the blackened plants and trees. Several of them were dead. I noticed that they were not all completely black, but some looked to be a combination of a dark brown mixed with black. A chill went up my spine, the entire area looked so unnatural. Still, my curiosity got the better of me and I pressed forward. I wasn't afraid of trying to find my way out, but I didn't understand if the unnatural plants were toxic to the touch. Hopefully I didn't find myself sick when I got home.

Something rustled.

I froze, normally I would think this was an animal of some sort, but I was already on edge from the unnatural environment. I looked around, there was definitely something nearby. Then I noticed something white move behind a tree. Obviously it didn't know how to hide. I relaxed a bit, if this thing was a threat there was no way it could hide from me. I moved behind the tree where I had saw the creature, and found it standing a few blocks in front of me walking in the opposite direction. But it walked strangely, it seemed limp and hunch forward as it moved. It was too dark to make out any other details. It appeared to be an injured person, perhaps he had some answers as to why this area was so strange. So I called to him. The person turned around and then I realized how horrible of a mistake I had just made.

The creature's face was deformed, it had two glowing white eyes and it shrieked when it saw me. Then it started charging at me, much faster than it had limped earlier. I turned and ran in the opposite direction, weaving my way through plants and trees. From a distance that creature looked disturbing enough, I definitely didn't want to get close to it. My heart sank as I realized I might get lost in this forest, I should have ran back where I came. No matter, staying alive was more important. I finally started becoming exhausted so I slowed my pace. The creature probably wasn't that close to-

Suddenly I felt several sharp blades tear into my back.

I screamed and fell to the ground. I immediately flipped myself over despite the pain, just as the creature came down on me. I saw every detail, its white eyes were surrounded by a dark black ooze that partially leaked from its eyes. Its mouth was lined with long sharp black teeth. instead of fingers its unnaturally long arms had long claws that it was about to drive into me. I drew my sword and drove away its hand then slashed it across the creature's face. A black liquid sprayed out and it shrieked again. I used this moment to roll back onto my feet and keep running. Only then did I notice how injured I was, I could barely move and before I knew it, I was collapsed on the ground again. The pain was unbearable, my whole body stung. My vision began fading. I looked up and saw another figure, like the creature that was chasing me. Except its head was surrounded by something bright red. Was it blood? No, it wasn't the right color and blood doesn't hang around your head like that. The figure was carrying something large but I couldn't tell what it was. Before I knew it, my eyes shut and I lost the energy to hold myself up. The last thing I heard before losing consciousness was another blood-curdling shriek from the creature behind me.


	3. Human Experimentation

I opened his eyes and was blinded by a bright light. I squinted as my eyes slowly adjusted to the room. Finally when I could see again I found myself lying down in the middle of some sort of lab. There were potions brewing nearby and the air was thick with some sort of chemical, or the mixture of multiple ones. I never learned any alchemy so I couldn't tell what any of the potions did. I had a feeling I didn't want to find out. I continued to examine my surroundings, looking for some sort of exit. I spotted a door only a short distance away. I tried to sit up and exit the room but found that I couldn't move. Then I realized something.

I was bound down to a table.

Suddenly I grew tense, I still had my pack around my waist, but how many of my things were still left inside? And where was my crossbow? I continued to look around and found it lying on another table nearby. I became a bit more relieved, if my captor didn't bother hiding my Crossbow he was either not intending to keep me here very long or was completely incompetent. Of course, it could also mean that whoever was keeping me captive intended to kill me on the spot.

Still, I couldn't be too sure of anything. I wanted so badly to try and makes sense of what happened before I got here, but for all I knew I didn't have much time to escape, and regardless of what my captive's intentions were, I didn't feel so inclined to find out. My pack was still around my waist, if I could get something out of it I might have a chance of breaking out. I could maneuver with my hands, but I couldn't move them to grab anything in my pack. I tried to move my waist up but that didn't even come close. I fell back into a resting position, the only thing I succeeded in doing is making myself look like a desperate idiot. Not that people didn't think much worse things about me already.

Then the door opened. A man wearing a stained lab coat walked in. He had long red hair that had patches of brown all over it. I couldn't tell if he had red hair and spilled brown ink on it or the other way around. He smiled as he saw me, even his skin had dark patches here and there "So glad to see you're awake. Tell me, how are you feeling?"

Just as the man asked me that question I noticed that I was very sore. Likely from being injured by that creature. But I noticed I wasn't bleeding any longer. I decided to answer the man's questions, I didn't want to risk destroying his patience if there was a chance he would let me go "I feel sore, but I'm feeling much better than before."

"Good good, that means the healing potions are working. Under normal circumstances you'd be fully healed in just a few hours." The man said.

"Normal circumstances?" I asked.

The man laughed "Well, for starters you're strapped to a table, would that be normal for someone like you? Anyway, you won't be leaving here. There's far too much to be learned about the human biology to simply let you go."

So much for him letting me go "So your going to run experiments on me for all eternity?"

The man laughed again "Oh no, don't worry. I won't be experimenting on you forever. I'll just experiment on you for about a week. Not going to lie, they are quite painful but rest assured you'll be dead by the end of the week. Subjects under extreme pain really ruins the validity of any experiments, so I can't experiment on anyone for too long."

Wow, what a relief. I looked around the room again, there wasn't any time to waste. But I couldn't move at all, even if I did find a way to escape there was no way I could use it. Then, I thought of something. "So, what are all these potions around the room for?"

"What? You aren't going to scream or panic or anything?" The man asked.

"Disappointed?" I asked.

The man laughed loudly "Not in the least, I always get annoyed when people scream and cry. But what can you do? Who wouldn't when they were just told they were going to face extreme torture, followed by death?" the man laughed again "You can call me Red by the way, not that you'll really be calling me anything for very long." He moved to the room where the potions were brewing "Do you really want to know what these are?"

I nodded, so far my plan was working better than I thought. However, I wasn't so sure the next part was possible. Red pointed to one potion that he was brewing the looked to be a greenish red mixture "This one potion combines the effects of a healing and damage potion to create a concoction that will heal humans but damage all other monsters, including undead." He chuckled to himself "Unfortunately, the effects don't quite work like they should, but that's why I have subjects like you around."

"But I thought you wanted to learn more about human biology, not potion effectiveness." I pointed out.

Red shrugged "Same difference. I learn more about potion effects and how much the human body can withstand different effects. Both are really helpful when you're trying to determine the boundaries of potion brewing." he laughed "But let's just say I learn about whatever I feel like."

He went to the next potion that was a dark violet color "Once this one is complete, it will grant whoever drinks it the ability to drain life from anything they strike. Although, it would only work with one's fists. I'll work on that later after I get this one done..."

I continued to listen to Red's explanation of each of the potions. Some of them sounded like they could benefit society in the right hands, others seemed to only be useful to a sadist. I hoped one of the potions effects could help get me out of these binds but none of them seemed to be useful to me in this situation, especially since most of them were still in the testing phase. However, at last Red mentioned a potion that I thought would help. "This potion is a non-lethal erosion chemical that melts away useless chunks of dirt, stone, or any other thing that gets in your way. It's basically TNT but it doesn't hurt you. But be careful, there are few non-organic materials it can't erode."

I smiled to myself, now I just had to find a way to use it.

Finally Red finished explaining what each potion did. "It's so nice of you to take an interest in my work, not many of victims do. But like I said before, can't blame them!" he laughed once again. "Still, I need to get back to work. So I'll see you in a few hours. In the meantime, I suggest you relax, take a nap, or ponder your life experiences. Because once that time's up, you will be put through more pain than you thought was even possible to bear." Red started to walk out of the room when I stopped him

"Wait, I wanted to get a closer look at those potions, would you mind moving the table over so I can examine them?" I asked.

Red laughed again "Well, you've suddenly become a more interesting subject. I suppose I could let you enjoy your last few moments."

Red pushed my table over to the chemicals, either this man was incredibly strong or I was much more lighter than I expected. The one I needed was still out of reach "Could you move me a little further to the right of the table?" I asked.

Red immediately complied, then went to the door "I feel like I should say 'if you need anything else just yell' but I don't really feel like granting you any more comfort." he laughed to himself as he left the room. I shook my head, he was as gullible as he was insane, was he really intelligent enough to make all these potions? I waited for around ten minutes to let Red get settled in to...whatever it was he was doing before I attempted to make a move. I suspected once I used the chemical it would alert Red and I wouldn't have much time to escape. I'd have to use the potion, grab my Crossbow, then try to get out of the building as quickly as possible.

I was close enough to the chemicals that I was able to vial the container the potion was in and lift it off of it's stand. Then I closed my eyes to ready myself, and threw the vial across myself and landed it right on my left hand. The chemical immediately exploded all around the room, I was freed, but the table quickly melted beneath me, and the vials on the table next to me all shattered, releasing the chemicals all over the room, some causing even more destruction. I fell off the table and landed much later than I expected, I realized that the floor had melted and I was two blocks beneath it, with the ground still slowly dissolving away. I rolled away from the chemicals that began to pour from the table. When I stood up I realized that I had been completely covered by the chemical. I quickly grabbed my Crossbow, only to realize that it had been damaged beyond use. I cursed under my breath as I re-strapped it on my back before leaving. I would be able to fix it, but for now it was mostly a mess of melted wood. I leaped and pulled myself up to where the door used to be. I found myself in a hallway two blocks wide and tall, barely enough to fit a full grown man. I sprinted down the hallway, I didn't know where the exit was but I couldn't stay still.

As I ran, I saw a door open ahead of me, as Red emerged from it I shoved him out of the way. I was expecting him to scream in frustration but I wasn't surprised to hear him laugh once again. "Where do you think you're going...?!"

He began pursuing me and I reached into one of the pockets of my pack and tried to pull out a few cobblestone blocks I had with me, only to realize that the chemical had melted most of them. I still had enough to place two on the ground. They grew to full size and though half-melted, created a small barrier. I knew it wouldn't last long and kept running before I could see how Red would react. Finally I reached the end of the hallway and came to a staircase. I went with my gut instinct and sprinted up the stairs. Soon, I was faced with a stone wall. My heart sank, had I gone the wrong way? Red would be on me any minute and probably wouldn't hesitate to use some lethal chemicals on me. Then I noticed there was a lever to my right. I pulled the lever and the stone in front of me moved to reveal the exit to the facility. I went out the opening to find myself back in the odd forest where I had fallen unconscious. I shivered when I recalled the appearance of the beast that had attacked me earlier, and this time I couldn't take enemies out at a distance since my Crossbow was half-melted. And those were the things I knew were ruined. Still, I couldn't wait here. Red would kill me in a manor that was much worse than the creatures in the forest could.

So I ran back into the dark forest, hoping to lose Red in the trees, and hoping that I wouldn't become lost from finding my way back home.


	4. Update and Changes

I've put some thought into it and decided that My One Chance will no longer be a Minecraft Fanfiction, but an original story in itself. This was done so I could break from the rules of the Minecraft world (Not that they were being followed all that well to begin with) and actually have full rights to an original story. My One Chance has been uploaded with a Fourth Chapter on Wattpad. I would have put in a link here for you to copy and paste, however for some reason the link just doesn't want to be saved in the document. So we're doing this the not-so-easy way:

1\. Go to the Wattpad website (If you google it, it's the first result that pops up)

2\. Erase the /home part and paste this in as replacement: /163669606-my-one-chance-ex-assassin

3\. Read (Please?)

Sorry for any inconvenience this change may have caused you


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